Monday, July 09, 2007

So, who dies? (Sorry, blogger.com won't let me title this. I'll try later when the software wakes up from its midday nap.)

It was Emerson Spartz's comment (see the 2005 interview with J.K. Rowling) that got me thinking about who will be killed off in Harry Potter No. 7, "The Deathly Hallows": “The wise old wizard with the beard always dies.” (Think Obi-Wan Kenobi.)

An aside: But remember Gandalf, in Lord of the Rings. He came back. On the other hand, Rowling has said that in her books, when you're dead you're dead. I don't think Dumbledore will come back. And I really hope he doesn't come back as a blue-green hazy ghost floating around to impart wisdom at important plot junctures, as Obi-Wan did.

My buddy Dave Enna says that if you're ever watching a low-budget movie and you see a beat up '72 Pontiac, you know the car will explode sooner or later. Or if you're watching a cheesy thriller and a blonde takes a shower early on, you know she will not survive.

Rowling has said two main characters will die in Book 7. There's been much speculation about whether Harry will be one of them. As I wrote previously, I'm not sure he will live. But given the heroic genre, I don't think he will.

That brings me to Remus Lupin. He's one of my favorite characters -- maybe my very favorite, after Dumbledore. He's thoughtful, principled, brave, noble, has good taste in women (Tonks) and he's living with a deathly illness for which polite society shuns him -- werewolf-hood. Many AIDS parallels. Anyway, sorry to say, but soon as I met him in Book 3 I knew he's too good to live. The only question is whether Rowling considers him a "main character."

Ron -- I don't think both Harry and Ron will die. That means, I'm so sorry, Ron will have to. Maybe Harry will have to choose whether to kill Voldemort and at the same time kill Ron, or save Ron and let Voldy go.

Updated paragraph (4:21 p.m. Monday): In my haste I neglected to say that of course, Snape will die. Whether he'll die as an act of noble sacrifice in order that Voldemort will die, or die battling the forces of good, or die some other way (this is my hunch), I don't think he'll survive.

Who else? Maybe Hagrid? At least one other Weasley, possibly more. Bill is probably toast, I fear. And Mr. Weasley, too.

I think the publishers and WB would start sharpening their knives if Jo killed off Harry. It would seriously damage the franchise.

That aside, Jo said two "additional" characters would die, not that only two would die. Killing Remus (I'm fond of him, too, though Sirius Black's my favorite) would effectively wipe out the Marauders, and it's certainly a possibility. From the "good side," though, I'm more concerned for the Weasleys. I'm quite sure that someone in that family won't make it out alive, unless Rowling keeps them intact as an example of what pureblood families should aspire to be.

We know Voldemort will die. Literary formula dictates that he has to. As for the others, my money's on Wormtail, Lucius Malfoy, various Ministry officials, Tonks, and (much as I'm loath to say it) Hagrid.

I agree with Anonymous 3:12. I can't imagine Rowling and WB would have greenlighted a Harry Potter theme park, or that the fifth movie would be released just 10 days before the seventh book (with two more movies to go), if in the end, these 10 years have been about a boy with dead parents who had a horrible life...

I think that at least one Wesley will die. Who knows, I'd like to see the end of the Malfoys (they are so evil!). Maybe Lucius will be killed in the duel at the end. THere has to be a duel, doesn't there? Perhaps Snape and Lucius will do battle, and they will both be killed. WOuldn't that be interesting? We know that Draco and Snape are off together at the end of book 6.

I think Southerners and Yankees should be segregated until we can resovle the hatred between these two very diffrent cultures. I hear hate from Charlotte and we all have to sit down in a group meeting with Doctor Phil and get over all the war shock. This city is being torn apart with hate from the extreme Right woing to the extreme left wing. People the civil war is about to start again if we dont seperate the North from the SOUTH.

I'm pretty darn sure that Voldemort is a gonner. That, however, is a given.

As far the two main deaths, I'm really hoping that Remus won't die, though I'm not getting my hopes up either. I'd really like to see him live, so that one of the Marauders will have survived to the end of the war with Voldemort. Symbolic, so to speak.

Of course, I don't want to see Harry, Ron or Hermione die, but I'm afraid that one of them is going to have to go. One of the other Weasleys, too, is probably gone. Personally, I hope it's Percy. Unfortunately, it's probably someone that we care more about. Fred and/or George, perhaps?

Hagrid is gonig to die. The three stages of Alchemical purification are the Black, the White, and the Red. So far, we've had Sirius BLACK and ALBUS Dumbledore die. RUBEUS Hagrid is next.

Of the Weasleys, I think that Fred will go. If you look at the pattern of the Weasley names, except for Ron and Percy, every one is the name of a British king or queen: Arthur, Mary, Charles, William, George, Frederick, and Ginevera. "But there was never a King Frederick!" But there was supposed to have been; Frederick, Prince of Wales, was King George II's eldest son. He died from being hit on the head by a cricket ball, leaving an infant daughter the Princess Sophie, who herself died before her 5th birthday, leaving the next heir her Uncle George, who became George III. Hence, I predict that Fred will die.

(Think--what if the American colonists had to deal with "King Frederic" or "Queen Sophie" rather than with George III?)

I think when JKR said two additional characters would die, that meant in addition to Cedric, Sirius, and Dumbledore. I don't think it meant more than 2 die in the book. Draco will be killed by Voldemort after he tries to leave being a Death Eater. (After all, he will have to be punished for not completing his task of killing Dumbledore himself. That will scare him.) I think all Weasleys will survive and reunite with Percy. Snape will also die. The question is whether he dies fighting for Voldemort or against him. I think there is much we still do not know about Snape to judge whose side he is truly on. I don't think Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville, Harry, or Ginny will die. Notice the boy/girl pairings? I think that is how they will end up in the end. Wormtail, Beatrix Lestrange, and other Death Eaters will also die, but they have not been characters throughout all the books so I do not consider them major characters. I think the last line will have something to do with there being no more pain in his scar. The scar is the final horcrux and somehow that last bit of Voldemort is released and destroyed.

About Mary and The Naked City blog

Mary Newsom is an Observer associate editor and op-ed columnist who's been covering growth, neighborhoods, urban design, sustainable development and related topics since 1995. In "The Naked City" you'll read her take on those topics and others.